The First Snow
by Ravenala
Summary: The first snow, while it means the dawn of a new world, it also signals the beginning of a frozen time.
1. A Whole New World

A girl sat alone in her darkened room, only accompanied by the lights from her PC and lamp desk.

The sound of one of her favorites, Shimotsuki Haruka's "Re: Call" can be heard playing lightly, as if illuminating the room. On her desk lied a cup of her favorite black tea, along with a plate with a slice of cake on top of it. Her right hand moved to slice a part of it with a fork, before taking the smaller piece to put it in her mouth. The black tea followed suit as she sipped it from the cup, easing her throat.

Well, maybe not a good choice for snack in the middle of the night, but sorry for having a sweet tooth, okay?

It was early in the morning. Last night, she had skipped dinner with her family on the pretense of having a stomachache. Her father, being the worrywart he was, ordered the family butler to have her sent straight to her room. He also made arrangements to have her excused from the school tomorrow so that her uncle could accompany her to the nearby hospital after he was done with his work. Talk about convenient.

Silently, the girl furrowed her eyes as she moved her right hand, along with the mouse said hand gripped. Her left hand was locked into the usual W-A-S-D key, sometimes moved to press the three first number keys on the upper left side of the keyboard.

" _The bomb has been planted."_

Aarrgh, damn!

Now she was on a clock to defuse the bomb. Considering the list of her friendlies that have been killed, she couldn't make any rash moves, as among the three remaining terrorists left, at least one of them was holding an AWP, or Accuracy International AWP, a .338 caliber bolt-action sniper rifle that can one-shot literally anyone. She'd bet that the sniper guy would be stationed at her blind spot, the two mids would guard the bomb site while making sure that she wouldn't have the time to check her six.

Plus, she was alone.

 _Now, what to do?_ She absentmindedly asked her mind while said mind did its best to formulate a plan. At the rate this was going, there were two options: the first was to let go of this round, while keeping her equipment safe. It was one to three, she ran out of her HEs, and one of them had an AWP. Trying to rush B here was nothing short of a suicide. The second was to rush B. She still had her smoke grenade, so throw one in and take out the three all at once. She might have an idea on where the sniper guy was hiding, one that would allow him to have a clear line of sight of two entrances at once. So, the probabilities were small, but it wasn't zero altogether. Which means there was a chance that she would be succeed.

"Hmm…"

" _Terrorists win,"_ the game announced the winner of this round soon after the sound of the bomb exploded was heard.

"Aah," she whined while having another piece of the cake. "This is why I hate become a CT in de areas," she continued with her mouth full. "By the way, what time it is… Geh, I still have to wait for five more hours? Don't wannaaa…"

The girl slumped herself onto the chair as she took a break from all the gaming for a while.

Well, the main reason that she took all the trouble into making sure that she wouldn't have to go to school for tomorrow was a little bit different, though.

 _Sword Art Online._

She looked at her NerveGear, the helmet that turned dreams into reality.

It was the first MMORPG that used the term 'FullDive', using NerveGear. It means that players immersed themselves fully into the game, not just staring in front of their PC, but actually went in it, _lived_ in it.

Sword Art Online itself was a real-time, melee-based MMORPG using level system with the setting as your usual, medieval-age-ish world. Real-time means that there was no time skip, each second counted and in order to get stronger in the game, you had to dive as much as you could. Melee-based means, well, ever played one of the Monster Hunter series? They were a fine example on how a melee-based game with no magic could be still successful. However, SAO took this to a whole new level by discarding completely the elemental attacks system used by MH, effectively making the fighting system reduced to only slashing and stuff.

During the beta, 1000 lucky players who were chosen from across the country had tried the game. Some of them had shared their experience on their personal blog. Many said that the graphics were really good that you could mistake one as something real had it not for the obvious HUD and "Immortal Object" notification. Many said that they felt _alive_ , that every of their movement felt like it wasn't programmed (well, technically the device lets you to project the brain neurotransmitters used to move the parts of your body to project your movement in the game instead, but you got the point). She was one of those who actively followed for any reports from the game.

Later in the afternoon, the game would be officially launched. Hundreds of players were reported that they would line up in front of stores the first thing in the morning, with few had actually camped the night before, which means, this night. With the official launch date finally here after months of waiting, the hype was in the full swing. You think why she couldn't sleep even for a wink?

The girl smiled as she felt adrenaline back online. She could feel that blood flowing through her veins as she felt reinvigorated. Silently, she picked up her mouse before once again went for another round.

Soon, she would able to try that world. Her mind was racing wildly, thinking about the possibilities that she could try once she was in the game, from weapons, moves, skills, _floor bosses_. Even enjoying normal lives would be fun to try. She had heard that there were cooking systems in the game. She would like to try that.

After two more rounds, she closed the game she was playing and put her PC into sleep mode. She then went to her bed to take a short nap, but not before taking a glance at her own copy of the game, in which the front cover was a giant, floating fortress.

Yeah, she was really looking forward to this.

Chapter 1: A Whole New World

 **Author's Note: Test, test. This is Ravenala, the very same Ravenala which is the latin name of a genus from a certain palm tree. This is my second ongoing story (you can look up for the first one). As I wasn't following the LN up until the Alicization Beginning, and I don't play any of the games, there is much work to be done for research on the Aincrad arc, such as key events, floors that weren't in the anime, floors landscapes from the game, rare drops, and important information such as when our MC beat the 50** **th** **floor, he didn't actually equip the Elucidator straight away as he didn't have enough STR stats at the time, or the famous (or infamous?) q Secret Medicine of the Forest, which the +6 (later +8) Anneal Blade originated, or even the Nezuha event. Point of view will be from our girl for most of the time, sometimes alternating to Kazuto for key events or when necessary. Updates will be alternated between this and my other story ("A New Generation" needs a lot of dedication in order to churn out even one chapter, as there are more variables that need to be considered compared to this one). So yeah, that's it for my introduction. Enjoy! (And don't forget to leave a review)**


	2. The Cruel Reality

Chapter 2: The Cruel Reality

A fourteen-year-old Kirigaya Kazuto held his breath as he beheld the world before him.

The sound of the bird chirping could be faintly heard, adding yet another dimension to the already perfect imitation of a real world. The setting was pretty much around the medieval era, with building and roads mostly made from stones and horses – beside carriages and walking on foot were the most popular means of transportation. Around him, a lot of NPCs – each were different from the other walking around. Apparently, today was a market day according to the timeline of Aincrad – the road was so busy that you couldn't walk around without bumping into some of them. Street vendors could be heard shouting to attract customers – some of them were already in the middle of negotiation, all looking for the right amount of Col. Fellow players were there as well, talking about forming a party or testing NPC-made weapons. At that moment, it was the single, most packed road in whole city – no, the whole Aincrad.

But, the boy paid no attention to any of that.

With patience, he slipped through the crowds as he made his way to a certain alleyway, one that would lead to open, where he would begin levelling straight away. While it was still at the outskirts of the Starting City, the mobs spawn rate was quite high, and thus it would get him some cool EXP points before heading out for the next city.

Now, why did he know all of this?

It was said that during the beta test open period, which was conducted over the summer break, there were around 100000 applicants for the test – more than half of the number of NerveGear that was sold. However, the number of the actual testers was reduced to only 1000 lucky applicants during the closed beta.

And he was one of them.

So, when he dived again today, using a whole new account, he had used the same setting as his old account.

Oh yeah, you all haven't been explained about it, have you?

In SAO, there are many stats that form one's character. Hidden stats, passive skills, however, there were only two visible statuses – STR and AGI.

STR – a stat that constitutes one's own base strength. The higher STR stats you have, the higher weight of a weapon you can carry, which means, the better weapon you can equip, leading to the better damage you could deal. In fact, the swords that he preferred usually have high STR stats requirements, so when he had high enough level, he would start to focus on increasing his STR. There are weapons that require higher STR stats than long swords – maces and axes for example, or lower – rapiers, katanas. However, he preferred long swords for several reasons – one was the balance they had. Maces and axes, while they have higher weight, leading to the higher the damage they gave when the attack connected, due to the very same weight, they would reduce AGI stats in return – a heavy slugger. Also, it would be difficult to chain attacks using them. Swords, however, could, and while their output weren't as high as maces, they didn't sacrifice a lot of AGI stats. Rapiers – well, they were faster than swords, chaining attacks was easier, but he felt that the damage output was lacking for all the swings. So, yeah, he preferred one-handed sword.

The second stat was AGI – from Agility, a stat that decided how fast you were in the game.

Let's say that if your success's in this game was decided by two factors – the ability to progress and the ability to survive against enemies when you were out in the open, AGI would take up a large portion of the latter half in this early stage.

SAO was a game that fully utilized level system, so the higher level you had, there are better things waiting to be used. As you leveled up, things that increased weren't just those that were visible to you, such as STR and AGI stats – hidden stats such as VIT – or Vitality, a stat that mostly decided on how much damage you could take were increased as well. Your vitality was also calculated by including outside factors such as the armor you equipped, or where the attack actually landed. Passive skills, such as Battle Healing – one of his must-have skills that automatically earned a spot in his limited passive skills slot, also helped towards your survival. However, in this early stage of the game, where VIT was severely limited, Battle Healing was yet to be available, and there was only so many STR stats you could have to equip armor, that means, the only sensible thing to do to avoid got yourself beaten to pulp by mobs was to avoid their oncoming attacks, or dodging.

That was why for now, a 1 STR and 2 AGI distributions were enough. He would keep on prioritizing AGI until Battle Healing became available, and when it did, he'd start on switching focus to STR instead.

Kirito headed for the intended alleyway, which would eventually lead into the open, where he would begin his farming. However, he was stopped right on his tracks when a voice seemed to call for him.

"Hey, you over there!" a voice called for him while running towards him. He had a long, magenta-colored hair tied with a red bandana circled his forehead. He wore the same as Kirito, starting equipment with brown leather breastplate, only that he wore it over white clothing with vertical linings compared to Kirito's blue.

"Me?" Kirito answered, unsure on what other else to say. During the beta, he was too focused on getting as far as he could that he hadn't talked much to his fellow beta. He also deemed that it was rather pointless for him to do things as a party for several reasons. When he did, though, it was purely for business, one reason why he only had Argo – an information broker – on his friend list so far.

The man whose jaw he chose to leave unshaven fixed his posture had yet to fix his out of breath posture as he continued from where he left off. "You move like you've been here before. You were in the beta test, right?"

"U-um," a meek nod was the only thing Kirito could manage for a response.

"Today's my first day. Show me the basics, 'kay?" said the guy who was in front of him suddenly got closer before putting his right hand on his left shoulder. Only for a short while, though before he started to beg, closing his eyes. "I'm begging you!"

"O-okay…"

"Good! Klein's the name, by the way!"

Kirito sighed.

 _I guess one people won't hurt_ , he thought before smiling at Klein.

"I'm Kirito."

-TFS-

Yuuki Asuna stared at the NerveGear in front of her.

She was currently in Kouichirou's – her older brother's room, having asked the night before to borrow his NerveGear. He was supposed to try this new game – Sword Art Online as well, being one of the ten thousands who managed to acquire the limited copy of the game on the day of the release – courtesy to company's relation, of course. Her brother wouldn't have the time to buy it at PC game store the first thing in the morning. However, last night, he received an international call – apparently one of RECT Inc – asking him to prepare himself as a private jet would take him to Switzerland tomorrow in the afternoon, which is, today around this time.

"Nii-san should've arrived at the airport already…" Asuna murmured as she sat on his brother's bed.

She was in fact, bored.

Being a straight-A student in every category, Yuuki Asuna was prepared to put in the extra effort needed when it came to her studies. Every spare time was used efficiently for her to study, be it preparing for exams that would be held two weeks later, taking notes from more advanced books, or watching a video of international lecturers. She only took a break for her daily needs, like grabbing snacks from the fridge or a quick nap to refresh her mind. Anything else would be the same as slacking off – and boy how she hated that with passion.

As such, her efforts paid dividends. Topping her class – which was filled with elites when it came to academic grade, was no sweat for her. She did sweat a little when it came to topping her years, though – as every class was equally divided and other classes also have their own genius as well. But all in all, even though it was a walk in the park so far, she would show no sign complacency, and continued to put in that extra mile for her studies.

Deep down, she knew that her no-nonsense attitude for time management often annoyed her peers, though – often she was asked to hang out with her friends, either for shopping, watching movies or other leisure-related activities, only to politely rejected it every time because she was busy studying. Their annoyance of her apparently projected in school as well – whenever there was a group work, more often than not she would end up doing it alone. Not that she mind about this – she often pitied them for not knowing the meaning behind group works, or why they had been assigned to that particular work and what uses did it have to their future studies. Her mother was very proud of her though, and she expected her to follow the steps of her father and older brother – to become a businessman – or businesswoman in her case.

Asuna stared at the game on the table – Sword Art Online. Truth was, when the closed beta was announced widely on the net, where only a thousand lucky applicants had a chance to play it before anyone else, it piqued her interest a bit. After all, her brother had often told her about Argus – the name of the company who owned the game – and his interest in the game itself. She even intended to buy her own NerveGear and a copy of the game as well – alas, apparently her body was too lazy to slack off, and so she ended up borrowing her brother's.

Asuna then lied on the bed, before putting on the NerveGear on her head. Well, this is the first time she touched a NerveGear – let alone using it, so she just followed what was said in the guidebook.

She then took a deep breath, before letting it out, simultaneously closing her eyes.

 _Time to see what is this all about._

"Link Start!"

And so, Yuuki Asuna dived for the first time – not knowing that had it not for her fateful meeting with a certain black swordsman, it would probably the last time she would say that line.

-TFS-

"Ow!" Klein yelped in pain as he was struck by wild boar with the force of what felt like a moving truck, effectively sending him to fall flat on the ground.

"Right on the crotch…" Klein writhed in pain as he held the said place. Meanwhile, the boar was standing by across of him; its eyes were glowing red, ready to charge at the slightest sign of resistance from Klein.

Kirito, having joined by Klein because he had asked him to show him the basics earlier, were standing at the intended place for farming, a certain field that was located at the west side of the Starting City. It green, lush field for as far as one could see, with several flowers planted among them. If you looked a bit further, though – were acres of forests on the sky, supported by pillars that broaden at the top to support the forest on top of it. He could see a mountain on top of one of the pillars as well

Kirito sighed at Klein's antics. "Give me a break. You don't feel any pain, right?"

Klein's eyes widened as he registered the actual pain he was feeling, which was, none. "Oh, yeah. Just a habit, I guess."

"I told you, what's important is your initial motion input."

"Sure, I get that… But, he keeps moving around, y'know?" Klein complained back in response while pointing towards the boar, which Kirito was sure that regardless of what he said, said boar wouldn't just stay on one place since it knew that an idiot was coming at it with a sharpened stick.

Kirito sighed again, now he silently wondered how many times he had sighed since Klein tagged along with him. "If you do the motion input right," he explained while picking up a rock near his right feet. "And activate a sword skill," he continued, now that the rock was grasped firmly on his right palm with the height above his shoulder, Kirito made a throwing posture, and suddenly the rock glowing red. He quickly released it, and the rock flew seamlessly in a straight line, hitting the wild boar right at the intended target. "The system will ensure that the technique connects," Kirito said as he concluded his explanation.

It was now Klein's turn. The boar, its aggro locked on Kirito since he hit it with the rock earlier, charged at Kirito, who sidestepped it. The boar turned to charged back, only to engage in a contest of strength as its tusks were locked on Kirito's sword. Kirito then kicked the boar, making it changed its target to Klein and charged, its tusks now locked on him. However, Klein was ready. He raised his one-handed curved sword, placing it above his right shoulder with its sharp edge was facing the top, and the sword started to glow as well. Klein then charged – straight line, towards the wild boar who was charging at him, and it burst forth into polygons as his attack connected, reducing its life to zero.

"All right!" Klein beamed in delight, having finally defeated his first mob.

"Congrats," Kirito congratulated him as he sheathed back his sword. "But, that boar's about as weak as slimes in other games.

"Seriously!? I thought it was a mid-level boss or something!"

Kirito laughed. "Of course not," true enough, another boar spawned near them, followed by two more.

Klein then tried his skill again as his sword glowed. "There's a lot of skill in this game, right?"

"Pretty much. It was said that there are infinite number of skills in SAO – but in exchange, there's no magic."

There were a lot of skills in SAO, which players could choose on which one to put among of their available ten skill slots, which as they hit higher levels, they would be expanded into twelve. The skills available were varied, ranging from combat-oriented skill such as One-handed Sword – the ability to wield a one-handed sword, to support, for example Battle Healing – which can heal a player's HP over time, or other skills such as Blacksmithing or even Cooking and Fishing. He himself considered adding Fishing into his skill slot later, all for so that he could survive when he was away from inn and he ran out of supplies.

On the other hand, a Sword Skill – the glowing thingy from both of their swords and his rock earlier – was combat skill that was assisted by system. Each type of weapons had its own set of skills, but you need to perfectly execute it in order to get the intended damage in.

"However, isn't it more fun to move your body as you fight?" Kirito smiled as he looked over at Klein, who was trying Vertical Arc.

"You got that right!"

The two continued their farming for a while – and while they didn't manage to level up, Klein had made progress with his combat as he was more fluid in fighting, executing one skill after another without a hitch. Kirito too got some sport while watching over Klein, killing every wild boar that was coming at him.

The skies soon dyed in orange. As they decided to take a break, with Klein sat on the plains, straightening his legs, and Kirito stood beside him, they could see a small rainbow formed over a waterfall that came from on top of the cliff, and above were four of what looked like a small wyverns flying slowly.

Klein sat crossing his legs, with his arms now supporting his body. "I can't believe it, no matter how many times I see it that we're in a game," he said in awe of his surroundings. True, the scenery was nothing less than a beauty, truly mirrored of what natural scenery in the real world felt like. "Whoever made this is a genius, I say."

Kirito chuckled. "You make a big deal out of everything," he too then smiled as he watched the scenery. "But, such is what Kayaba Akihiko is capable of, I guess."

"Well, it's my first full dive!"

"Then, this is your first time playing with a game with NerveGear?"

Klein stared at the orange sky as he recalled the memory of him purchasing the game for the first time. "I rushed out and bought the hardware to play SAO. I was really lucky to get one of the thousand copies," he looked at Kirito, who was looking forward. "But, you're ten times as lucky, though – getting into the beta test."

"I guess so."

There was a moment of silence between the two as they enjoyed the scenery. Then, a thought occurred to Klein as he began asking Kirito again.

"Hey," Klein called. "How far did you get in the beta?"

"Over a couple of months, only to floor 8," Kirito replied, eyes still locked at the scenery in front of him. He then let out a smile. "But, this time it'll take only a month."

"You're really into this game, huh."

"To be honest," Kirito replied while drawing the sword sheathed on his back. "During the beta test, SAO was all I thought about, day and night," he then said while looking at his sword. "In this game, a single blade can take you wherever you want to go. It's a virtual world, but I still feel more alive than I do in the real one," he concluded, now that he was looking back at Klein. "Want to hunt some more?"

Klein, still sat cross-legged, held his stomach in response. "I'd really love to, but I'm really hungry. So I'm logging out."

"Well, eating here only makes you think that you aren't hungry, though," Kirito pointed out.

"That's right! That's why I've already ordered hot pizza for 5:30!"

"You're so prepared, aren't you…"

Klein laughed in response. "Well, I'll be back after eating," he said while picking himself up. "By the way, I'm meeting up with some of my friends from another game. Want to join me?"

Kirito looked surprised at first, before his eyes were locked to the ground, refusing to meet with Klein's. Klein, who noticed this, opted to wrap up the conversation to resolve this rather awkward situation. "Well, if you don't want to meet them, I'll introduce them to you another time," he said to Kirito, who still looked down at the ground.

Kirito smiled wryly. "I'm sorry."

Klein waved his hand in response. "Don't sweat it. Rather, I should be the one who apologize for taking your time," he said while his right hand moved, opening his user interface. "That's strange," he frowned. "I can't find the logout button."

Kirito sighed for the umpteenth time of the day. "It's under the tab 'Option'. You must be missed it."

"Well, I can't found it!"

"I said, it's under…" Kirito repeated, only to frown instead. "You're right. It isn't here."

The two contemplated on what they should do next. Klein had soon tried to contact the GM, to no avail, which Kirito theorized that the server might still be all jammed up, due to it was overloaded because of so many players dived in short amount of intervals. While Klein joked that this must have caused headache for everyone in the office, Kirito doubted it. After all, this was a game made by the man whom he admired, Kayaba Akihiko, and such thing coming from the world that he created was jarring at best.

He might get his answer soon, though, as the sound of a tolling bell could be heard from the direction where the Central Plaza was located.

Then, two streaks of light burst forth from the ground as they enveloped Kirito and Klein body in a bluish-white light.

-TFS-

" _Players, welcome to my world. My name is Kayaba Akihiko, and from now on I'm the only one who can control this world."_

"… _This is a feature of Sword Art Online."_

" _...Once your HP hit zero, the transmitter inside the NerveGear will release a powerful microwave, destroying your brain along with your life. Any attempts from outside with the intent to interfere with the game will cause the same result. Regretfully, there were some who ignored this caution, and as a result, 213 people have gone forever from this world."_

"… _To clear the game. Even if only one of you managed to beat the 100_ _th_ _boss, it'll mean the clearance of the game and I'll set everyone free."_

What.

What did he say?

If you die here, you die in real world as well?

That the world she dreamt on living, the one that she swore that she would try everything, was nothing more than a fake? A honeyed trap set up for ten thousand people by no one else but the man every teenager in this generation admired and inspired to become? That beneath his calculating looks; he was nothing more than a psychopath?

No.

No.

She wouldn't believe this crap.

Just hours ago that she was saying goodbye to her parents who went to work. Again, they remind her to not too long playing this game, as her uncle would be visiting later after he was done with her work to take her to the nearby hospital. She had carefully planned for this day – from texting her classmates that she wouldn't be able to come to school because she was sick to convincing her parents – and this cloaked figure floating in front of her dared to claim that those conversations would probably be her last?

Just hours ago, she – along with some players had been taught the ropes of this game by a man who introduced himself as Heathcliff – a rather badass name, she'd say – about the levelling system, about how to fight, about weapons in the world of swords, about sword skills She was grateful for the man – who seemed to be in his forties – instructions. She had died a few times, but in the end she managed to kill quite a bit of wild boars. Before he left, the man mentioned that it would probably be useful for them if they read the guide made by the beta testers – and she did. It was very useful for beginners like them – some important bits like there were safety number of enhancements for each weapon before the success percentage dropped drastically if one were to use an NPC blacksmith or the dangerous areas near the Starting City where the spawn rate was rather high, but was suitable for farming.

And he said that your life would meet its end were you to lose against those mobs?

"No…" frantically, she opened her user interface, quickly slamming the "Option" button.

"This is…"

But, her train of thought was stopped in its tracks as the cloaked figure spoke again. _"Finally, I've added a present from me to your item storage. Please see for yourself,"_ the cloaked figure said. So she did – she went to check her inventory, only to be surprised that among her items she had gathered today, there was one that she didn't recognize.

It was a mirror.

The mirror materialized in her hand. As she began to carefully examine it, loud screams could be heard from her surroundings, followed by a streak of bluish white light.

What.

Then, another one.

Another one.

"What in the…" she swore, but before she had the time to finish her sentence, or actually registering on what the hell was going on, the very same streak of light burst forth from the ground she was standing – and soon bluish white lights enveloped the entire plaza.

When the lights died out, the moment that she looked again at the mirror, it was the moment she realized that everyone's faces – not just faces, their avatar figures had been replaced by their real ones, putting everything out in the open. Her avatar hair for example – which she opted for a shoulder length, wavy black hair – the usual hair color for a Japanese – had been replaced with her real one – a straight, cream-colored hair that she inherited from her mother, which fluttered against the wind. Her facial complexion too had changed – from someone who seemed in her twenties to a fourteen-year-old girl.

 _I see_ , she thought as the realization dawned on her. _The game asked us to calibrate our body by having us touching it, while the NerveGear did the head part by covering our head with a high-density signaling device._ It was simple, yet at the same time, ingenious. And the message was simple as well,

A warning.

" _Right now, you're wondering 'Why?',"_ the hooded figure spoke again. _"Why would Kayaba Akihiko, developer of Sword Art Online and the NerveGear, do all this?"_ which was responded by utter, total silence by the crowds, including her. _"My goal has already been achieved. I created Sword Art Online for one reason: to create this world and intervene in it. And now, it's complete."_

Her eyes widened at the realization. Right now, the dream of a man named Kayaba Akihiko has just realized. It was true, the fate of ten thousand players now in his hands: whether to kill them outright or just let them wander aimlessly in this almost impossible world.

Even though they were the lives that admired him.

"Why…"

" _This ends for the tutorial Sword Art Online official launch. Good luck, players,"_ the figure finished its sentence as she could see its body glitch, red smokes emanated from its body as they slipped to the wall of "Warning" signs on the sky, while its body – the cloaked figure vanished in a burst of light, followed by the sky turned back to normal.

Then, silence doomed the entire plaza.

Until she could hear the cry of a girl who seemed to be younger than her.

Then, chaos.

"Screw you!"

"Let me out! Let me out of here!"

"I can't stay here… I have a meeting after this!"

"Let us go!"

The crowds broke into chaos – as fear doomed them. The fact that they wouldn't be able to get out of here for a long time – possibly forever, if no one managed to clear the game. The fact that they had to live in uncertainty, with every day could possibly be their last if they weren't careful. The fact that they had to part with their loved ones without even able to say anything. Cries of outrage could be heard across the plaza, not just outrage – frustration, despair, denial – every negative feeling was out in the open as they couldn't believe that they had to accept that this was their reality – their new reality.

As for her?

Well, for starter, she couldn't feel her feet at all.

When she looked at her feet to know why, she saw them – they were trembling.

Not just her feet.

Her whole body.

"Why…" she muttered in fear. It wasn't supposed to be like this. She was supposed to go to hospital with her uncle after logging out. She was supposed to be able to dive every day after school. She was supposed to try everything in this game – fighting, cooking, fishing, and when she was strong enough, she could try PKing – like what she used to do in the previous MMORPG she had played. But, when the whole thing turned into a survival, how could she even think about it?

She had to survive. She would survive, and she would return to her parents – and apologize to them for lying about her being sick. She would tell them that she only wanted to play SAO upon its release, and whatever they would say after that, she would listen.

She would survive.

She would survive in this hell.

Then, she saw it.

Out in the corner of her eyes, she caught something – no, someone. Among the chaos, one player – someone who was about her age slipped through the crowds while bringing along a tall guy with a rather wacky hair along with him. He was heading for the alleyway that would lead them to the open – the west field of the city, to be exact.

But, that wasn't important.

Among chaos, someone moved with assurance and confidence, like he knew what he was doing, where he would be going.

 _A beta tester._

Her lifeline.

 **Author's Note: So, this is the second chapter, and hopefully it would be able to cover what was in the first episode of the anime. One of the great moments that I enjoyed when watching SAO was the exchange between Kirito and Klein. At first, I was rather torn between which one to write – the exchange or giving our girl more screen time by writing her meeting with Heathcliff. In the end, I opt for the former simply because I couldn't pass up the chance of writing it.**

 **I hope you enjoy it, and don't forget to leave a review. Palm tree out!**


	3. Foolish Sacrifices

Chapter 3: Foolish Sacrifices

"Haaa!"

The girl let out a cry as she slew her twentieth Little Nepent of the day. She was still very far from done, as there were at least two more that slowly approached her. She charged at the one at her right, skillfully sidestepping its oncoming tongue before unleashed Vertical Arc. The Nepent, who had its tongue sliced off, recoiled back in pain, only to notice, albeit too late, that its opponent once again closed in, quickly sliced again as two bluish white light licked the Nepent's body, indicating a Sword Skill had been activated.

The Nepent let out a final cry as it burst into polygons.

"Still nothing, huh…" the girl murmured as the dialogue box that indicated an enemy had been slain appeared in front of her. She had little time to check for the experience points and the Col obtained, though, because the other one, the Little Nepent at her left now at her range. She quickly brandished her weapon again, the starter sword that was granted to those who chose One Handed Sword to put into one of their available first two slots. The Nepent growled as she ducked to avoid its swiping tongue, and this time she opted to stab through its belly. It definitely worked, as the stab wound slowly depleting the Nepent's HP, and when it reacted, she had moved first by twirling to its left, leaving its side wide open, before finishing it off with Horizontal Arc.

She was in the middle of a quest called Secret Medicine of the Forest, located in the forest of Horunka Village, the next residential area nearest to Starting City. The quest was triggered by visiting one of the houses near the forest area, the only two-story house, in fact, and talking to the owner of the house. From there, the old lady would beg to you to go to the forest in order to retrieve the item that would cure her daughter, the Little Nepent's Ovule. Should the quest accomplished, the old lady would reward you with a sword, apparently – one that the boy who had done the quest before her deemed important enough that he would go out of his way just for the sake of this one quest. Whatever the properties the weapon had, she would make sure to get them and use those properties to their full potential in order to increase her chance of surviving this death game.

Apparently, the quest wasn't a walk in the park, or rather – it was a shitty experience so far.

Now, if the quest was like "Kill 50 Little Nepent" and on the 50th count, the item in question would appear, that would be piece of cake – she had done that numerous times in other RPG-based games. Like, too easy.

However, from what she had observed, there were at least three types of Little Nepent.

The first one was the misses. They were the normal nepents, the ones that mostly spawned in the forest, and killing them would hold no merit except for some EXP points and a little of Col. No Ovule, no nothing – they were basically there as diversions and well – mobs. In fact, all twenty-two of the Nepents she had killed were classified as this type. And she really was getting pissed at them. Like, would you just stop already!?

The second one – the shits. The big, red fruit on their head was the thing that distinguished them from the rest. They fought just like them, but one thing – it was completely, absolutely prohibited for you to kill them. Why? Because, upon attack, the fruit on their head would explode, emitting particular odor to the air that would attract the others to the source of the odor – which meant, instant death.

The third one was the golds. They had a flower on their head, and slaying them was basically the point of the quest, where the item, Little Nepent's Ovule would appear. After that, you would return to the house, giving the lady the item, and she would reward you with a sword as a sign of gratitude. However, this got complicated when their spawn rate was low, and the field was filled with either the misses or the shits.

The girl took a deep breath. She could do this. She had seen how the boy before her had done it – avoiding the fruits, killing the normal ones while staying outside of their range. She too had seen the consequence of hitting the fruits – a pack of nepents would surround you, and while their attacks were slow to begin with – dump some more into a lone solo, and even beta testers wouldn't last. In fact, she had seen this with her own eyes – apparently, the boy she had followed from the start got caught in this scuffle courtesy to another beta – an act of monster PK, indeed. He would've burst into polygons had he panicked and misstep even for a bit. However, he used his head and lured the pack into the other beta – who was in hiding, waiting for the boy to drop his ovule in order to obtain twice amount of the prize. Well, you knew how that ended up. Not that she had any obligation to help – he knew what he was doing, and therefore he should've prepared with the risks, and she was too busy to fend for herself, like she had any time for others.

 _There!_ She could see it, standing behind around five Little Nepent, there was one with flower attached on top. It was apparently looking at the other way too – all her actions earlier hadn't caught its aggro. Finally, after what looked like forever, the mob in question appeared. She could do this. Among the five that were standing before her, only one that was equipped with fruit on top, the rest were normal mobs. If she circled around them, making direct leeway to the flower one, she would be able to complete the quest and bolted out right away.

She could do this.

Slowly, she took a deep breath.

And then, she charged.

.

.

.

After successfully obtaining the Little Nepent's Ovule, the girl walked out of the forest back to the house, where the old lady was waiting. Apparently, she really needed that flower to cure her daughter that she literally broke down in tears after she showed her the item in question. Well, because this was a game, the NPCs reactions were preprogrammed, and while the quest Secret Medicine of the Forest could be done multiple times; she almost bought that completely if not for the sudden change in the old lady's tone as her conversation was being reset.

The girl brandished her new weapon, an Anneal Blade and held with the flat side facing her, looking at her reflection in the sword.

"Time to test it, I guess…" she mumbled.

The night was still young, after all.

-TFS-

Yuuki Asuna stood firm, her eyes watching every move of the Wild Boar in front of her.

It was around 2 a.m. Aincrad time. She was alone in her usual farming grounds in the forest of Horunka, a town located nearest to Starting City – the place where all of this began.

Truth was, she didn't even know why she was here, of all places. During the first few hours after the announcement, she only locked herself up in one of the inns available near the plaza, only to go out occasionally to either east or west field to hunt a few wild boars in order to obtain the money to purchase a few pieces of Black Bread. When she heard the announcement, she could feel all the strength left her legs as she was rooted at the place she was standing. Death game? If you die here, you die too in real life? What was the cloaked figure even talking about? She was only here in the first place because curiosity got the best of her and she ended up diving using her brother's NerveGear. Yet, the cloaked figure – who was supposed to be the GM of this game, Kayaba Akihiko, had showed them the cruel reality of this game: news roared about the 213 people who forced, or was forced to log out – they had disappeared forever from this world.

Then, as if that wasn't enough, fate showed her one more proof, one that had sent her straight to the closest inn from the plaza.

Monument of Life – a large stone tablet that extended over 10 meters in width. It was located inside a building that looked like a church, and it listed every player that had logged in into the game – a total of 10000 players. According to Argo – a friend of her who was one of the 1000 SAO beta testers, the monument was there in place of Room of Resurrection that was in the closed beta. She'd always thought that it was strange – the concept of the room itself was quite convenient as the dead players would be gathered in one place, not all scattered. Before the announcement of the death game, she theorized that the dead players would be resurrected at the plaza of each floor, however, once the bomb had been dropped, Asuna soon realized the purpose of the tablet:

Recording.

Monument of Life had every of the player's name carefully written in its surface, using Latin alphanumeric. However, there was this sizeable gap between the names of players for each line, one that would lead into question of the necessity of having such a huge tablet for that purpose alone.

Not all players believed the word of a giant, cloaked figure suddenly seeped from the wall of Warning that appeared in the sky as sudden, you see – while most who believed in its words crying desperately, begging to be freed from here, some – who had staunch belief that if they somehow or another died, in another words, their HP gauge hit zero, they would be forcefully logged out from the game, and back to the real world.

So, some tried to jump from the edge of the cliff, hoping that they would be freed once they had died.

The result was disastrous, and yet, it was what had allowed her to realize the purpose its existence, and thus led her to believe the word of the cloaked figure. During the first few hours, she, along with Argo had been checking the room where the monument was located, half-hoping that the players that jumped from the cliff would be revived in this very room. Instead, what they saw was the tablet getting updated, with some of the gaps were filled with the details of the players' death, namely the date of their death, and the cause.

Once she saw them, she quickly excused herself from the equally stunned Argo, and called it a night.

That was how she had spent the first few hours in the game, all locked up inside her inn room. It was dark, it was uncomfortable, the food wasn't good, but it was _safe_. She wasn't going to die, so long that she kept her outing only to the nearby farming areas. She just needed to spend her life there, while hoping that maybe, someday there would be help from the outside world that their prayers would reach the authorities out there – or someone. Someone that would become strong enough to clear the game for them – for there were many like her who all curled up in other inns, feeling the same despair and hopelessness.

But, would that be alright, though?

Would that be alright for her to only wait here, doing nothing?

Who knew how long clearing this game would take?

When she back, could she still stay as herself?

Could she still be able to stay as the girl who always tried her best at everything? The one that at the end of the day could go to sleep smiling that she had done everything she could do?

There was no way, right.

If she at least tried, then maybe she could stay herself when she woke up.

If she at least tried, then maybe she could stay herself, even in this hell.

So, trembling as she was, she picked herself up and checked out from the inn. After consulting everything to Argo, she had agreed to secure her a route that would take herself to Tolbana, the town where the 1st floor dungeon supposed to be, for half the price. She also told her some good farming spots, where the mobs level were pretty low, the spawn rate was moderate, but there were a lot of EXP points to be obtained.

And so, here she was, waiting for the Wild Boar to make its move. Boars moved in straight line, so her chance would be after she had sidestepped its charge. Calmly, she held her rapier – its tip pointing straight forward at the boar.

And then, the board attacked.

Asuna was prepared for this, though – she quickly sidestepped the Wild Boar, before unleashing a series of attacks, throwing it off balance. She wasn't finished, as when the boar turned to her, she twirled, once again facing its side, before unleashing yet another series of quick slashes before finishing it off with a sword skill, her rapier glowing brightly as a sword skill in form of a one-hit stab to its belly was executed. Then, a notification box appeared on her screen as she checked how many EXP and Col she gained from the boar.

Then, a clap.

Asuna quickly brandished her rapier again as she turned to the source, only to found someone who was about her age leaning at the nearby tree with a disinterested look on his face.

"That was pretty impressive. But, what you did was Overkill, there was no need to use a sword skill such as Linear to finish off that boar in the first place," the boy in front of her noted.

-TFS-

And with that, one month had passed.

Since the cloaked figure made its historical announcement, two thousand people had died, either by mobs or purposefully ending their life.

However, no one had cleared the boss room yet, let alone clearing the first floor. The players were getting desperate, the betas were furious at themselves for falling behind their schedule. Apparently, the location of the boss room in the dungeon has been changed from the old location during the closed beta, hence why no one had yet to found it.

"And so, later in the day there'll be a meeting in order to figure out how to beat the first floor boss," the cloaked figure with a rather high-pitched tone in front of her concluded her information.

She was sitting in front of a café located at the center of the plaza in Tolbana, a town at the first floor that was reported to be the nearest one to the first floor boss dungeon. It was true, as she had been day in and out soloed her way in the dungeon ( _well, only the outer part. No one is crazy or OP enough to solo the whole dungeon, right!?_ ) for around a week now. There was no way she would try to find the boss room when she had no one to party with, as clearing dungeons in any RPG was a tasking job that would require your full attention. Any sign of tiredness and the mobs that spawned lawlessly in there would beat the hell out of you. When one's life was the one at stake, she would take no chances. So, she had been limiting her farming to the lower floor of the dungeon and the forest, where the mobs were relatively easier for solo players to deal with.

"Does that mean the location of the boss room has been found?" she responded lazily, her left arm supporting her head on the table.

The info broker in front of her nodded. "Humu," she confirmed as she waved her index finger. "But, you need to attend the meeting in order to find out, Yume-chin~"

Yume grumbled as she sipped her coffee. It wasn't as good as the usual she had back home, but it was the most expensive around when others only sold cheap knockoffs, and she wasn't planning to add Cooking, so she had to cope with this.

Yume smiled. "So, you told me that you used to have three pairs of permanent whisker during the beta, hence The Rat. Care to tell me why?"

"1000 Col, Yume-chin," Argo quoted her price playfully. "And that's already pushing it because you're a friend to me. I'd ask for 1500 for others."

"350."

"Oi, you're seriously bargaining more than a half!? I've told you about the meeting, at least give me 800!"

"499 then, or do you want me to follow you around? Don't forget you're on my friend list. Also, you give this kind of information for free, anyway."

"750 Col. Take it or leave it, Yume-chin. You know there's an option to make you not to be noticed by those on your friend list, right?"

Yume grumbled at that. True, SAO provided the means to make one "disappeared". One of the perks of the Friend List feature was that you could check up on the others, where exactly he/she was. By turning on the said feature, you could make yourself disappear from your friend's map. It was particularly useful if you didn't want to be bothered, or you wanted to do some solo or something.

She then sighed as her right hand moved to open her user interface and transfer the exact amount of Col Argo had asked. "So?"

"Well, there was this quest back then during the beta, to be exact on the second floor. It was at a remote location deep in a mountain. To clear this quest, you need to be able to break a huge boulder with your bare hands. Simply put, I failed."

"Hence the whiskers," Yume mused. "Then, the reward is?"

"1500 Col."

"Argo, I thought we've talked about this," Yume snapped. "I've told you that I want very _detailed_ and _thorough_ information on why you had permanent whiskers, even though it was possible to change your appearance before this whole death game business."

"Okay, okay," Argo finally conceded. "Basically, it was a skill called Martial Arts."

Yume's ears perked up at this. In the SAO beginner's guidebook, it was mentioned that SAO was a game that didn't utilize magic, but in exchange, there was a lot of skills. Since the start of the death game, she had been keeping track mostly combat-related and survival-related skills list. Others – well, these two took precedence over everything. She knew about Hand to Hand Combat, but the skill Argo had just mentioned didn't sound like "Hand to Hand Combat", right?

"It's not mentioned in the guidebook, though."

"Not all the beta knows about this skill either," Argo closed her eyes. "In fact, only a handful of players – including me, know about this. So, yeah, I'm fully intending on selling the information about this skill."

"I see…" that was a fair move, to be honest. If you want to be a good info broker, you couldn't just outright reveal the information you had even though this was inside of a death game. You needed to be patient, prioritizing your logic over your feelings and deal with every client accordingly. If you didn't have those two, well, one thing for sure was that you would lose the source of your income.

"Say, Argo."

"Hmm? What is it, Yume-chin?~"

"You don't want to join the front lines?"

"No, no, no," Argo giggled in response while waving her hand. "People still need their Rat, y'know? Anyone can just swing a sword~"

"Anyone, ehh…" Yume mumbled. She then glanced at the big clock located at the center of the town's plaza. "By the way, it's almost time for the meeting. You're going to join or what?"

"I had one of my clients in the front lines to report the result of the meeting to me, soo nah."

Yume nodded as she stood up from her seat. "Then, I'll see you around, Argo."

"Good luck, Yume-chin~"

.

.

.

"Thank you for your patronage!"

Fifteen minutes later and she was on her way to the meeting. She didn't go straight to the said place, as she took a detour first to the one of the NPC-owned blacksmith shop in the town.

The girl unsheathed her sword as she looked at her reflection. Since she had acquired Anneal Blade as her primary weapon, the one handed sword had shown to her the quality in which the boy whom she tailed a month ago had sought. One was that Anneal Blade was definitely stronger than the Starter Sword (well, actually anything was better than it, really), and apparently, its base stats too were stronger than the Bronze Sword which was a staple for most players in this game. However, the second major buff the sword that was acquired from Secret Medicine of the Forest quest was what she later realized as something crucial for her survival.

When you owned a weapon, if you had enough resources – you could go to a blacksmith shop in order to upgrade it using them. Enchantment – it was a basic feature for any RPGs. There were many varieties of this "upgrade" – in SAO; it seemed that the system was a stats enhancement one. By putting your weapon for upgrade, you could increase your weapon base stats, in which they would affect your combat stats and performance in return. In SAO, apparently, a weapon at this early stage of the game only had like around four slots for enhancement. However, Anneal Blade had eight, which meant it could last more floors than Bronze Sword, or other one handed swords out there. In fact, she had just completed her fourth enhancement, now that her Anneal Blade stood at 2S2D enhancements, or "+2 Sharpness and +2 Durability". She had refrained from using up all the chances on upgrading it because according to the guide, the moment a weapon had passed its fourth upgrade, the chance for the fifth upgrade onwards would noticeably reduced, and a failed enhancement could lead into a decrease in effectiveness of a weapon. It was advised that players shouldn't upgrade their weapons past the "safety mark" until they found player-owned blacksmith shops, a shop that was owned by players that had maxed out their blacksmithing skill.

Yume sheathed her Anneal Blade as she headed for the outskirt of the town, to an abandoned coliseum that was situated below ground level, where a meeting for the first-ever boss raid since this death game had begun was held. After around fifteen minutes of walking, she was out from the center of Tolbana, where there were less building now, and she could see other players heading for the same direction as her – most of them were walking in groups, while there were some like her that still didn't have any party to join – like the tall African men about five meters in front of her. He was wielding a double-edged axe on his back, and light metal armor covering his chest and upper part of his legs over overall white, sleeveless clothing with two black, vertical stripes. Not that it mattered too much, though – as she was only observing the man who was certainly in the middle of his thirties because he was directly in front of him.

Yume, along with other players finally entered the coliseum. She then took a glance at her surroundings – most had already sat in huge groups or at least in two or three people. Don't get her wrong, it wasn't like she liked to be alone – in fact, one of the keys in beating MMORPGs was how good you were in a party. However, almost all of the players in here were males, and while she didn't mind, there were of course some reservations in sitting near to strangers, even more so those of opposite genders. And the female populations – well, they already grouped themselves mostly in two or three, so suddenly joining them would create an awkward tension.

So, she chose the furthest seating from the stage. There was another person who sat at the top near the ground level, so she made her way to sit beside that person.

After a closer look, Yume concluded that this person probably didn't want to be bothered, or maybe highly valued privacy. Hey, privacy in this kind of game was important, you know – who knew if there were some jealous players IRL that would annoy you just because you were better than them inside the game? Yeah, the same privacy that was broken by the GM himself. Lord… Anyway, the person whom she was going to sit side-by-side wore an overall brown cape with and covered his/her (how she was supposed to know!?) head with the hoodie, and with the weapon placed on the waist.

Okay, she didn't know how to do this. How should she approach this person? Like, you know, just sitting beside him/her would be an invasion of privacy, right? Let's see… "E-em," Yume stuttered. _God this is awkward_. "Excuse me, could I sit beside you, emm…"

The person seemed to notice that Yume had called to him/her suddenly turned to face her. It was so sudden that Yume yelped in surprise, only to notice that the person was smiling ever so brightly, before pulling his/her hoodie a bit, revealing the face that was hidden inside.

Yume's eyes widened in surprise.

A girl.

Moreover, a girl who was of her age.

The girl in front of her, still smiling brightly, nodded as she tapped the seating beside her, signaling Yume to sit before she put on her hoodie again.

"Emm…"

The girl cut Yume off, though. "My name is Asuna," she said politely, still smiling. "And you?"

-TFS-

"My name is Diabel!" the person who was talking in the center of the stage introduced himself. "I like to consider my job as 'Knight', though."

"There's no job system in this game, you know!"

"A knight?"

"Then, is the meeting a joke too?"

"You should take this more seriously!"

Kirito chuckled as the man who called himself "Diabel" finally got the audience's attention. It seemed that the icebreaker worked. They were about to begin the meeting for the boss raid, so of course it was going to be tense at the first.

Then, everyone – including him got serious, with some gasped and mouthed something like "impossible" when Diabel claimed that he and his party had found the boss room at the very top of the dungeon. It was to be expected, as one month had passed since this death game had begun, and yet, no one had found the boss room, including him – a former beta tester. So, for someone to make such a claim… Anyway, he then explained the importance of clearing this floor as soon as possible, which was a way to offer hope to players who were still too scared to leave the Starting City that "it was possible to beat this game", as he said.

"Then, let us begin our planning," Diabel continued. "First, make a party of six."

Kirito looked at his surroundings, aanndd… No one.

This was a disaster. Even during the beta, Illfang the Kobold Lord wasn't something that you could defeat alone. Rather, no boss was designed to be beaten by a single player or a small party. If he didn't have any party – well, let's just say he would end up more a dead weight than a useful one.

There were two, though.

One was hiding his/her face with a hoodie. Judging from the overall figure, the person seemed to be a light build just like him. Well, that meant they would be doing the attacking part during the boss raid, a role that Kirito relished and excelled in.

The second one, a girl.

She had a cream-colored, straight hair with the length that reached her legs. Also, her hair fluttered upon the slightest contact with the wind, which was impressive considering how long her hair was. She wore the starter outfit given by the game with leather breastplate over an overall white, long-sleeved top with jet-black vest and boots, and white stockings. Her pouch, like most players, was placed at her waist.

But, that wasn't important.

The more important issue was the weapon she sheathed at her left waist.

 _Anneal Blade_ , Kirito recognized the very same one handed sword he used was on her waist. _So she was a beta tester as well?_ That was the most logical conclusion. He – along with Argo and several beta testers had compiled a guidebook consisting the most basic information regarding Sword Art Online. And because he was the one who wrote the weapon section, he was sure that he didn't put about Anneal Blade there, as he wasn't sure if his information about said quest would still be valid during the official launch. However, the fact that she was a one handed sword user like him, and owned the same weapon to boot, meant that she was a beta tester, and she too had undertaken the Secret Medicine of the Forest quest necessary to obtain the blade.

 _This simplifies things then_ , Kirito thought. He was never that good with people, much more to a stranger, considering that he had been holing himself back in the real world playing games. He even felt that he was being distant to his little sister, Suguha – one that he determined to correct once he had returned. However, if the other party was a fellow beta, he could go straight for the business as they knew what they were dealing with, and what would be the best approach for this first floor boss. Making up his mind Kirito moved his position to sit beside the girl – one that apparently she didn't appreciate.

"You are?" the girl with white hair asked coolly, only looking at him with the corner of her right eye.

Kirito flinched. It looked like that even as a fellow beta, she didn't recognize him, and well, she seemed didn't appreciate him being too close to her. Well, no problem, though – there were a thousand volunteers back then, and they weren't using their real faces unlike now. So, he just had to make sure that he introduced himself properly. "I was just wondering if you two got left out too."

"Not even," the person with hoodie replied curtly. "I just stayed out of it because they seemed to know each other already."

"Solo player, huh…" Kirito tried to make eye contact with the other person but alas, the person in question didn't even put down the hoodie. Meanwhile, the girl with white hair looked at him with an amused face. "Then, would the two of you like to form a party with me?" he then asked. From the brief exchange, he had confirmed that the both of them were solo players, which meant that they were strong enough to fend for themselves. Even short of number they wouldn't be dead weight to others simply because the quality they had. He finally caught the other person's attention as for the first time; he/she glanced at him, possibly interested in the proposal. Kirito would bet that the girl with white hair should be considering his proposal as well, she had to – as a fellow beta. "The guy at the front said we can't beat the boss on our own."

"Let's say I ended up partying with you," the girl beside him cut between the conversation as she let out a cryptic smile, one that Kirito couldn't make out what did it imply. "What's in it for me?" Huh, for their apparent closeness, the girl still takes it upon herself to consider his proposal. _So, they aren't acquaintances then?_ "I could easily spot that there is at least one more group that still need one people down there. So, please elaborate why I should form a party with less number of members than them?"

"I…" Kirito finally conceded. He had no one to party with (of course he wasn't going to join the party down there), and the girl – while she knew the importance of partying, she could still refuse his offer and ended up partying with the person in hood instead – and that would spell disaster. He had sworn that he would join every boss raid, what was the point if he couldn't even join the first one. "I've been here before."

"Oh?" the girl raised her eyebrow in surprise. "Another beta tester, then?"

"Beta tester?" the person in hood repeated. "Then, you were one of…?"

Kirito nodded in response. _Well, you just blew your cover, buddy,_ Kirito thought. Combined with the fact that the girl had an Anneal Blade, while the person in hood might not one of them, he was sure now that she was a fellow beta. "Illfang the Kobold Lord…" Kirito spoke again, now with more assured tone. "I've faced it before. I know how it moves. Also," he then drew his weapon, his trustworthy Anneal Blade. "You also own it," he addressed the girl. "Mine is +6."

The girl didn't say anything as she leaned her body forward to carefully examine his sword, before resting on her back again. She then sighed. "I have my doubts, I also have my questions," she replied quietly before turning to the person in hood. "But, for now… What do you say?" she looked at the person in the hood, which he/she responded with a silent nod.

 _Thank god…_ Kirito huffed as he opened up his user interface and to form a party. Truthfully, he had half-expected that his invitation would get turned down, especially the girl with white hair. Even though they were a fellow beta, he couldn't make out what her intention was, when she ended up agreeing to join the party. A moment later, he sent the invitation for both of them which they quickly responded by tapping the button with "O" sign on it.

 _Yume and Asuna, huh..._ Kirito mused as their names appeared below his own. Well, they were at least in a group. That way, it would be easier for Diabel to instruct them as he saw fit. Already strategies run through his head as he thought of several possibilities that he probably would share with the knight on the center of the stage…

"Just a second!"

Alas, his thought was interrupted as a man who seemed on his middle years appeared from out of nowhere (no, he appeared from above) and jumped his way all down to below to the stage.

The man then introduced himself – rather rudely, Kirito thought. "My name's Kibaou. I wanna say something before we take on the boss."

His rather sudden introduction seemed to have the crowd's attention as he continued. "Some of you here need to apologize for the two thousand who've died so far!"

Even though his time was interrupted, Diabel seemed to be able to keep a straight face as he replied. "Kibaou-san, are you perhaps referring to the beta testers?"

"Of course I am! On the day this stupid game started, the beta guys ditched us beginners, and they all disappeared," well, it was true that he went off on his own after the announcement, but he had tried to bring Klein along with him. "They took all the good hunting spots and easy quests for themselves, so only they could get stronger," fighting multiple nepents was hardly easy, you know? "And then, they just ignored the rest of us," well, he was a solo player, so there wasn't anyone but himself. But, it wasn't like he would just ditch beginners if he somehow found that they had a hard time – not like he had ever done it before.

Kibaou wasn't finished, though. "I'm sure someone here was in the beta! They should get on their knees and apologize, and give up all the items and money they've hoarded. Otherwise, we can't trust them to protect us as party members, and they shouldn't trust us!"

Kirito flinched. While he was sure that he wasn't one, he knew that there were some information that they had decided not to reveal in the guide – the info on Anneal Blade, for example. Or the quest to obtain Martial Arts, which even among the beta, only a handful of people knew about this. That was why Kibaou's rambling felt close to home – or was that the reason? Because deep in him, he too realized that he was in the same boat as them. He was trembling. Silently, he closed his eyes hoping that this situation – people murmured amongst themselves, an air of suspicion brew in the air – would somehow resolve itself.

However, he had another thing to take care of, as the girl beside him apparently didn't take Kibaou's statement all too well.

Kirito put his hand on her lap to prevent her from standing and directing all the attention to the three of them. _"Stop it!"_ Kirito hissed with a low voice as he made his point towards the angered girl. _"Do you want to get us in trouble!?"_ What was she up to, intending to direct all the attention to them? Shouldn't she realize by now that their reputations were tarnished? If she made any rebuttal here, it would only worsen the condition.

Yume's face – one that was bridled with pure, uncontrolled anger, suddenly went to one in surprise as she looked at him in disbelief, as if he had done something unforgivable to her, before she calmed down enough to fix her seating again, but not before shoving his hand from her lap.

Then, their eyes were locked at each other. Kirito eyes stared the reflection of Yume's seemed look of disbelief at his gesture – and they were staring at each other for a while, not wanting to back down. Yume finally let go, though, as she huffed and refocused her attention to the scene that was unfolding at the center of the stage.

A grown-up African man – whose height towered the cactus head, was schooling Kibaou, who looked like he had just encountered his natural enemy as he was looked torn between bolting his way out of there and preserving what left from his pride.

"I thought the topic of discussion here was what we could learn from their deaths, and how that can help us defeat the boss," the African man finished his speech as he looked back at Kibaou – who realized the futility of his stubbornness by now. With one final irritated look he shot at the man, Kibaou returned to the seat at the front before settling himself. The African man he had scuffle with then sat beside him.

Diabel, who nodded gratefully at the African man finally continued. "All right, now that the situation is resolved, we will discuss about the boss written in the latest issue of the guide book released by the beta testers…"

.

.

.

Two hours later, the meeting ended in a positive note as the audience began to make their way out of the coliseum. There are few things that they had come to agreement; one of them was that they would meet up at 10 in the morning tomorrow in front of the boss dungeon. Another was that the players who joined the boss raid would be divided into two squad in general: one was taking care the boss, Illfang the Kobold Lord, another was to keep the boss minions – Ruin Kobold Sentinel out of the main party's range. During the closed beta, the sentinel, while they weren't that powerful, they were still an annoyance due to their weapons; a kind of poleaxe packed some punches, which hurt. So, specialized parties that were assigned to take care of them were required.

As for Kirito, he had excused himself from Asuna to chase Yume who walked at brisk pace ahead of him. She got out of the coliseum as soon as the meeting was ended, without saying anything to either of them.

"Yume!" Kirito called for his name as he managed to catch up with her due to him being running. It seemed that she heard, as she too slowed down, even though she hadn't turned her back to face him. Whatever his mistake was, he knew that he needed to apologize. "Look, whatever my fault earlier, I'm…"

Kirito didn't get his chance to finish, as Yume turned her back coolly to face him, who was still panting due to all the running.

Then, after a long silence, she finally replied.

" _Don't. Follow. Me,"_ Yume uttered the three words icily as she turned his back on him without saying anything and ran off on her own.

But, that wasn't all.

Kirito's user interface suddenly appeared as there was a notification.

When he checked for it, his eyes widened in disbelief at what had just happened.

Yume's name had disappeared from his party members list.

-TFS-

 _So he doesn't realize that I was following him back then? That's convenient_ , Yume mused while glancing at the back, and true enough – she could see Kirito and Asuna walking a bit far behind the main group, seeming to be in a serious discussion.

Today was the day they would take a shot at clearing the first floor boss, Illfang the Kobold Lord. As agreed, the group had met outside of the forest that would lead straight to the dungeon, located at the outskirt of Tolbana. They were currently heading to the tower, where from there they would go straight for the boss room – no funny business as grinding or else, just go, beat the boss, and the first floor would be cleared.

She had consulted Diabel about her leaving Kirito's party, and Diabel, being the quite gentleman he was – had assigned her to the party instead with five members she had talked about during her heated exchange with Kirito, making her the sixth member. He was also quite courteous to her, introducing her to the rest of the party members and asking whether she needed anything – a good guy. Shame that he was too bright for her taste, that and she preferred someone who was her age.

About her outburst at Kirito, well…

It wasn't that she was angry at him, really – she was furious with Kibaou. Like, first, the guy came late into the meeting and interrupted someone who was clearly in the middle of the talking. Then, he had gone on rambling about the beta testers and how they should took responsibility for the two thousand deaths, and literally asking them to be stripped from their equipment – in an MMORPG.

That was the last straw.

Oh, and that cactus hair of him was annoying. Like, couldn't you get any other hairstyles? Gross.

Ehm, so, back to the last straw…

 _So what if they were beta testers, you fucker?_

So what if they had gotten some kind of early advantage in a survival of the fittest situation, in a _level-based MMORPG_ , where the weak would be gone down the drain? The fact stands that they were the chosen applicants – and he wasn't. Or perhaps he didn't even bother to apply? Not that she cared anyway.

The fact stands that they had spared some of their time grinding and grinding and grinding and grinding – something that he probably wouldn't be able to stand considering how easy for him to just ask like that – an insult of the highest order to any gamer. And he was supposed to be an adult, wow.

Yume had considered challenging him to a duel right there and then – only for Kirito to order her to stand down. Silently she wondered if she wasn't stopped, would Kibaou accept her challenge? Nah, he had to – she was a girl at least half of his age, and while he could just make an excuse like "I can't hit a girl" or not taking her seriously, she wouldn't let him to do so. She would provoke him in the middle of the match, and that would make him lose his composure and seal the game for her. She had a +4 Anneal Blade, after all – a sword that most beta testers with One Handed Sword skill sought the first thing in the morning. Certainly superior to any wimpy, NPC store-bought weapons.

About her lashing out at him, well… Let's just say it was more about her losing control of herself rather than she was actually angry at him. Of course, there was a part of her that felt angered, like when he held her back from showing Kibaou who was the boss. She was about to stood her ground for beta testers – the likes of him and yet he was telling her to stand down? Damn son… Anyway, they finally reached the dungeon's entrance, and she could see that Kirito and Asuna finally catched up with the rest.

And they were standing right behind her.

Silence doomed the trio as even though Yume knew how smooth she could be with strangers, she too realized the awkwardness of the situation.

"E, er…" she could hear that Kirito was trying to start the conversation. Inwardly, she giggled. Even though he was a boy, the fact that he too felt the rather awkward tension was quite cute, really – or was she the one who hadn't seen enough of the boys? Since most of them who went out of their way to approach her were pretty straightforward.

Yume then casted her gaze at him while slightly bending her neck backwards. "If you feel guilty about yesterday, don't be," she said, her eyes softened. "You were trying to protect me, weren't you? I was the one who in the wrong for not noticing that," she concluded her apology, now that she had her back fully turned to face Asuna. "Asuna-san too, alright?" which was responded with a meek nod.

Kirito coughed once as words finally came out from him. "Anyway, Yume, you still remember about the boss' patterns, right?" Huh, so he still thought that she was a beta tester? This was going to be funny, then. "Once its HP down to the last bar, the moment it changes weapon to a talwar, it will become more conservative in its attacks – baiting us to get into the front of it before reacting with mainly wide horizontal slices. That was why the plan was to attack from all sides – the tank will be in the front to absorb all its attacks, while the rest of us will deliver damages from the other sides."

Time to drop the bomb, then. "But, Kirito-kun," Yume said right after he finished his sentence. "I'm not a beta tester, you know?"

Silence.

"W-what?" Kirito choked as he couldn't quite believe what Yume had just said. Asuna too widened her eyes in surprise, but unlike Kirito, she seemed to catch on.

"I said," Yume repeated slowly while grinning. "I'm-not-a-betaa-tester, you know?"

Another silence. Time seemed to be stilled for Kirito as he registered what Yume said. She wasn't a beta tester? However he didn't have any more time to dwell on his thought as Yume leaned forward, their eyes met.

Yume smiled.

Kirito gulped.

Asuna stared at the two of them.

"That's why, I'll be in your care, Kirito-kun."

.

.

.

After one hour of walking and fighting mobs, they were now right in front of the boss room. The only thing that stood between them and whatever the room had in store for them was a huge gate. It had a pair of doors and was accompanied by a pair of torches, which dimly illuminated the room, making the overall impression darker.

Yume stood alongside her party, with Kirito and Asuna right behind her. She noted that there were at least two more players beside her that used One Handed Sword, both using weapons that she didn't have any knowledge of. There was one other who used One Handed Curved Sword, while the last two used mace and an axe respectively. She also noted that while the last two members had heavier build than the rest of them in the party, most of them were of a lighter build than the rest – like Kirito or Asuna for example – hence why they were assigned as the "Strike Group", one that was responsible in delivering the damage to the boss.

Diabel stood at the front, now facing all of them before delivering his final speech. "Listen, everyone," he said as he slammed the tip of his sword onto the ground. "I have only one thing to say. Let's win!"

His speech seemed to be effective, as the more raucous crowds responded by letting out cries, lifting the mood. The quiet ones responded by clapping or nodding in agreement. With a soft push, Diabel opened the gate, as everyone readied their weapons.

 _It was dark_ , Yume thought as she brandished her Anneal Blade. She couldn't make out the rest of the room except for few things: the first that the floor at the center of the room was marbled with some patterns that she wasn't sure if they had any meaning at all. The second was the pillars were lined up in straight line to the farthest side of the room, which was located at the opposite side of where they were standing. Slowly, Diabel moved further inside, followed by the rest of the group.

Then, suddenly, the room covered in white light as its nature was revealed for everyone to see. Across the room, sitting on its own throne was their enemy:

Illfang the Kobold Lord

Illfang jumped from its throne before landing in front of the raid group, now wielding a large bone axe on its right hand paired with a leather shield on its left. It roared, then all of the sudden, three Ruin Kobold Sentinel appeared in front of it, each wielding a poleaxe. Like kobolds in general, they stood in two legs, only that Illfang was over two meters tall when standing, its body was covered in blue-grey fur, while the sentinels all used full body armor with a helmet that covered their faces completely. The Kobold Lord bellowed as if showcasing its strength, followed by cries from the sentinels.

Then, Illfang moved. It may be huge, but slow it was not. With a surprising acceleration for something of its size, Illfang lowered its body's center of gravity in order to move faster. The three sentinels in front of it did the same as together, they charged at the raid group.

Diabel, seeing this as a sign that the battle had begun, finally shouted his first order. "Commence attack!" he shouted, which was responded by the rest of the party with battle cries not inferior to those belonged to the kobolds. The group, led by Kibaou, charged straight at the sentinels, each of them had their weapons raised. However, one of them was ahead of the others.

It was Yume.

Using the initial force, Yume burst forward ahead of Kibaou towards the oncoming Ruin Kobold Sentinel in front of her. Then, she raised her blade from the waist, perfectly executing Slant to meet the kobold's initial strike that was executed in downward trajectory. With a loud sound of steel hitting at each other, two weapons met.

And the fight for their freedom began.

-ANG-

"Squad A and Squad C, switch!"Diabel shouted his orders.

That was her cue then. After Squad A had delivered their strike, Illfang's aggro was now locked at them, and now it was their turn to attack. That was the whole point of switching , after all – In order to confuse the boss' priority hit list, parties were set up to strike repeatedly at different times. She moved in smoothly to the boss – now it was in her weapon's range, before delivering an array of slashes towards its right leg. The rest of her party followed suit, as the other three sword users attacked the other leg while the mace and axe user attacked its belly.

"Here it comes! Squad B, block!"

Following right behind them were the members of the Squad B – mainly functioned as a tank of the raid group, with the heavier builds such as Kibaou and Agil – the African man who walked in front of her yesterday were included. The moment Ilfang tried to counter; they swooped in, while her squad switched out to watch as the Kobold Lord's attack once again blunted by the sheer number of the tanks. Illfang recoiled, and Squad C once again closed in, delivering damages all over its body.

So far the raid had gone exactly as planned. Illfang might be quick on its feet, but its reaction wasn't exactly the best, so it had been rather easy to rattle it by constantly switching in and out, causing it to mistimed its attacks and such. The sentinels, while their poleaxes were dangerous, they were successfully kept at bay by Squad D, E, and F due to being outnumbered – and outclassed. With players of the quality such as Kirito and Asuna assigned as their guards, the strike group could be at ease, knowing that they had such reliable comrades to rely on. In fact, Yume had seen earlier how they ganged up on one of the sentinels – poor kobold didn't know what it just got itself into, really. She had always known that Kirito was good with his sword – he had to, considering that he opted to solo his way through in an MMORPG. While her group switched out, sometimes she stole glances at his direction, where he made short work of the sentinels as his strength, agility, reaction – combined with in-depth knowledge about these kinds of games and his seemed familiarity with swords were what made him such an unstoppable force. But what she didn't expect that Asuna was very quick on her feet – even more so than Kirito. One moment she was waiting for Kirito to switch out, the next she was already in front of the sentinel, criminally abusing her Linear.

Yume once again switched out as she let the tanks did their job, followed by group A delivering damages, and finally, they were in the final stage of the battle as she could see that Illfang was down to a quarter of the HP in the last bar – the color had turned into red, and if the beta testers information were true, it should change its main weapon into a talwar – a single-edged, curved sword soon.

True enough, Illfang's eyes glowed in red, as it threw away both its axe and leather shield as it reached for the weapon it kept at its waist – the stance suggested that it aimed for a counter with wide slash towards the next oncoming group. _A more conservative approach,_ Yume mused. The beast knew that it was approaching its end, so the system programmed so that it would be focusing on defense instead. However, a question came to her mind.

 _But, why the change in weapon?_

Then, something happened.

"Stand back!" the familiar voice of Diabel instructed as for the first time in this fight, Diabel got into the front lines. Now, if he ordered for them to rush at the boss all at once with him leading the way she might've understood – there was that kind of leader too, after all – but he had instructed for them to stand down. What was the thinking behind that? _Are we going to make it attacks us to abandon its defensive stance?_ Yume thought as she was stopped in her tracks. Not just her – in fact, everyone from the strike group was left confused by Diabel's instruction, leaving the sound of clashing metals from behind them. Well, they would find out though, as Diabel – who surged to the front, now drew his weapon, charging it with a sword skill. Illfang – his aggro locked on Diabel now that it realized that he was the only one who acted hostile against it at the moment, pulled its own weapon as well.

Then, Yume heard a single voice screaming orders desperately from behind.

"Stop it!" Yume recognized that it was Kirito's. "Jump back as far as you can!" the desperation in his voice… They had this under control, save for Diabel's strange order. So, what could…? Then, Yume saw what was wrong with her own two eyes as Illfang pulled the weapon of its choice from the sheath.

It was a nodachi.

Not a talwar.

 _Oh shit._

The boss' move patterns had been changed – that was the simplest, yet also the cruelest conclusion Yume could've drawn. During the closed beta, the tester may have faced an Illfang equipped with talwar as its secondary weapon. However, Kayaba Akihiko added his personal twist upon the day of the death game – unpredictability, an outside factor in the works during their fight to regain freedom. They thought that they had nailed this – information from former beta testers, meticulous plan by the leaders that was executed to perfection by the rest of them. They were too confident – and that exact confident led to complacency, which was capitalized by Kayaba himself.

Few people – like Kirito, shouted to Diabel to jump back, but it was too late - Illfang the Kobold Lord countered, it went on the offensive as it charged at Diabel – whom hadn't finished charging his sword skill, jumping around the pillars and the roof of the room to add momentum before unleashing a Slant of its own. Diabel – his guard completely broke, was sent sprawling onto the floor with a deep, red gash on his midsection, indicating the damage had been done. But, Illfang didn't stop there. With a furious roar, it charged another sword skill as it continued it lunged towards the now defenseless Diabel, and an upward slash from its waist was all it took to send Diabel flying like those baseballs.

"Diabel!" Yume could hear that Kirito called for their leader's name as she – along with Kirito and Asuna, raced towards the fallen figure of Diabel, who was still holding his midsection, unable to stand up. As they got closer, she noticed that his HP keep falling, showing no signs to stop. Kirito was the first to reach Diabel as he quickly got on one knee before reaching for the potion crystal in his pouch. "Why did you…" Kirito muttered as he took out the crystal to have Diabel drank it, only for him to gently pushed Kirito's arm which was holding the crystal.

What.

Groaning, Diabel finally opened his eyes as he looked back at Kirito. "You were… a beta tester too… weren't you?" he said as his sentence was caught in-between breaths.

Kirito's eyes widened. "You were after the rare item from the Last Attack Bonus," he said slowly, whatever that meant. Fortunately the name gave it away, as Yume now knew that the person who dealt the last hit to the boss would be rewarded with some kind of rare item. She would have to re-strategize, and make sure she delivered when it mattered.

But, for now, they needed for Diabel to stay alive. The group's morale would plummet if he kicked the bucket here. "Whatever that meant, you have to use the crystal now," she said sternly to Diabel as Kirito nodded in agreement. _His HP kept depleting_ , she thought as panic started to swarm her veins. At this rate…

But, Diabel smiled wryly as he shook his head.

Yume knew that she had a rather short fuse. Although she considered it was more due to her surroundings being suicidal, or idiotic – or both, she had already realized the danger of being easily angered for her health. So, she had been learning self-control from both of her parents – mostly from her father because he had to adapt to all kinds of people due to his line of work. It was really hard at first – she had to smooth her way just to school some idiotic people to know their place among all things – but, it worked. Those people seemed to understand more what she wanted to convey when she was calmer. Of course she still trained self-control by herself every now and then, but her father had been satisfied with her considerable progress and she hadn't practiced with her father ever since.

However, Yume silently mused whether the training was a success or not, because she was about to snap at someone for the second time in two days. Maybe because the whole death game business was starting to grate her even if it was just a bit? She wasn't really sure.

" _Are you an idiot?"_ she hissed as she brushed off Kirito to grab Diabel's collar, who didn't even respond. _"Do you want to fucking kick your bucket that much, huh!?_ And here I thought you were supposed to be…"

"Yume, that's enough."

Yume's eyes widened the moment someone behind her called for her name as she could feel something was grabbing her right shoulder. She quickly turned behind, only to find Kirito's unflinching gaze met hers. His look was devoid of the usual cheerful, yet gloomy and mysterious at the same time – it was a stern look, one that had steel in it, just like when her grandmother used to do when she reprimanded her.

Again.

This. Guy. Again.

Yume didn't know whether to get angry at him or get angry at him, really. It was the very same scenario – she snapped at something, and he put a stop to her. It was the second time in a row someone dared to step up and deny her – maybe she could more or less relate now how people felt when she did this to them. There was this nagging feeling of wanting to slice his tongue, but doing so would only prove that he was in the right and she was wrong. She silently gritted her teeth as she let Kirito took her place. As she moved back from the spot, she could see that Asuna gave her a slightly concerned look. A nice girl, she was – if only she could be more outspoken.

Anyway, now that she and Kirito switched places, he was back at Diabel's side. Diabel, supported by Kirito, tried to look what happened around him. It was a tragic sight – now that their leader was out of commission, every strategy and plan they had planned was thrown aside as chaos seeped through their ranks and they were scattered like flies. The ones who could fight – well, they tried to put up some resistance, only for Illfang to brush it like there was nothing to begin with.

Diabel flinched at the sight as Yume could see that he steeled himself before giving one final look to Kirito. "I beg you…" Diabel finally said, looking at Kirito. "Please… Defeat the boss… For everyone's sake…"

And with that, Diabel burst into polygons.

That moment of silence was the longest Yume had ever felt in her life. Even though she was sure that it wasn't supposed to be _that_ silent – since Illfang was still on the move, she could hardly feel that she heard anything else. By now, at least one minute had passed, and the microwave in Diabel's NerveGear should've had his brain fried – along with his life.

Death.

And here she thought that she had come to terms with people die in this game. Why wouldn't she? During the launch day, she had bear witness to hundreds of deaths before her. She had seen people brimming with hope only to fall into despair later on. It was the day when many hopes were crushed under the false reality that was forced upon them, the day when many died in vain because of them not being able to accept said reality, and the day when she was sorted out to be one of the strong – the day when she found her lifeline and clinging desperately to that single ray of hope.

But, in reality, she didn't.

And what happened to Diabel only served as a reminder that death could come to you so sudden that you wouldn't even have the time to realize it. When that happened, you wouldn't be able to do anything – let alone saying goodbye to your friends, loved ones, or…

Parents.

Why was she even bothered to do all of this, anyway? Was it to become stronger? Was it to do everything she wanted?

Well, she wanted to do that. But, those two weren't the most important reason.

Didn't she come all the way from Starting City to here in hope of one day she could get out of this hellhole to meet again with her parents?

If so, what was she even doing, dillydallying everyday like she was guaranteed to came out alive?

Even though…

Even though…

"Going somewhere?" words suddenly flew out from her mouth as even though she looked down, she could see with the corner of her eyes that Kirito silently had passed her, holding his sword in his right hand. When she turned back to face him, she could see that Asuna lined up beside him, her rapier too was at the ready.

And then, they moved.

 _It's impossible. What were they thinking?_ If one miss in judgement was all it took to send them into this state, what were the hopes of doing it with only two of them? Nevertheless, Kirito and Asuna were running toward the boss side-by-side, and with a loud cry, Kirito charged a sword skill onto his blade, before unleashing it towards Illfang whom by now realized the new potential threats, and it too in return sliced downwards.

The blades clashed with each other as both of them were thrown away due to the impact.

Yume's eyes widened in disbelief at the sight before her. "But, that's…" _impossible._ No matter how much strength one had, you couldn't hope to block a boss' attack on your own – a slugger type at that – that was why they had a group full of tanks with them in the first place. Such thing would be unthinkable, unless…

"He's strong…" Yume mumbled between her breaths. So this was what a +6 Anneal Blade capable of. No. It wasn't just strength, agility, nor any outside factor like any of those – the sheer determination he had to the point he was willing to grind for hours, resulting in the strength he had now.

Yume silently looked at the sheathed Anneal Blade on her waist. _Father, mother…_

Anyway, now that both Kirito and Illfang were recoiling from the clash earlier, Asuna had switched in, ready to unleash Linear. Her tip almost reached Illfang…

If not for its eyes glowed suddenly as Illfang suddenly unleashed a downward slash.

"Asuna!" Yume was sure that both of them screamed at the same time as Illfang's blade fell down just like a guillotine. However, Asuna managed to duck just in the nick of the time, and Illfang's blade took her cape instead, revealing the full sight of the girl she had just met yesterday. Asuna continued her attack, and her rapier finally reached Illfang as it was sent sprawling on the floor. Kirito managed to recover his stance, and together they tried to repeat the same strategy – Kirito would lose its balance, and Asuna would deliver the full blow to its body. Only, Illfang was more prepared this time, as it matched Kirito blow for blow, and when Kirito attempted Slant from his waist, that was the moment when he fell for the same trick as Illfang suddenly accelerated and shifted the trajectory of its blade, resulting in a full damage dealt to Kirito as he was sent crashing with Asuna, his life went to yellow almost immediately.

 _No!_

Illfang, sensed the chance, slowly moved towards the fallen figure of Kirito and Asuna, readying its nodachi for the crushing blow. Asuna raised her rapier to block, however, as the guillotine fell, another force countered from below as Illfang was blunted, and was sent skidding on the floor. It was Agil – amongst the chaos, he had somehow managed to make his way to here, and just in time too.

And somehow, she picked that moment to move.

She didn't know – it wasn't like her to do something rashly, at least without thinking it over. Yet here she was, rushing at the boss, even though she knew that there was no way one player could hope to beat a boss – of all things, alone. Yume readied her blade, and with Illfang still hadn't recovered its stance, it was a direct blow to Illfang's face as Slant smashed its face like a hammer. Illfang wasn't fazed, though, as it slowly stood back up, readying its blade.

But, that moment was all they needed as Yume could hear battle cries from behind them, and one by one, others who had recovered charged in, and for the first time in its rage mode, Illfang was forced on the defensive. Yume joined in as well, as blows after blows were delivered and Illfang was forced to block with the flat side of its blade. However, the stream of attacks soon subsided, and Illfang countered – with one fluid motion, Horizontal Arc broke their ranks, and Yume – who raised her sword just in time to block, was forced to take the full impact of Illfang's nodachi, and was sent rolling on the floor before crashing onto one of the pillars.

"Khh…" Yume groaned in pain as she addressed the damage, while an "Immortal Object" notification promptly appeared above her. Apparently, even with blocking, combined with the damage caused by the pillars her HP dropped to the point right before it turned to yellow. _If this was IRL, I would've been killed_ , Yume thought. The only saving grace was now that she was sent so far away from the boss, she was out from its range, and so it didn't lock its aggro towards her anymore. Silently she wondered if a difference of two enhancements between the same weapons might be the one that resulted this: Kirito blocked Illfang's blow with ease while she was sent flying?

But, it didn't matter, as she had played her part in this raid – buying enough time for the main actor to recover. With a loud cry, Kirito made a run through the masses of fallen players, before jumping to intercept Illfang. The Kobold Lord let loose with its nodachi, yet somehow Kirito still managed to shift his body midair, avoiding the first slash from Illfang before countering sublimely with a slice to its back. Both were falling onto the ground, yet while Illfang fell headfirst, Kirito used the momentum to do a front roll before standing back up as he made a run once again. Asuna too had lined up beside him as both attempted the final attacks toward the boss. Illfang had stood back up, now charging its own sword skill. Kirito was the first to go in, unleashing a Slant to make it recoiled on purpose – the same tactic as before. Now that Illfang was once again wide open, Asuna spammed her Linear ( _seriously, girl, don't you have any other skills to use?_ ) as streaks of light slammed Illfang's belly, and Kirito switched in before using back-to-back Slant – one was executed from top-right to bottom-left – a direct hit to Illfang's body as it roared in pain, the last one was proved to be the final blow as he sliced all the way through from its belly to its back as Illfang the Kobold Lord was sent to the air and burst into polygons of light.

There was a moment of silence before the notification panel that indicated the boss had indeed been slain – it was a message notifying the amount of EXP and Col gained for each player – and the moment everyone saw it, the crowds erupted. Cheers of happiness at finally clearing the boss, celebration as what seemed to be a mission impossible – clearing all 100 floors – they finally a step closer to that final line.

Yume wordlessly addressed her share of EXP and Col. After she memorized the number, with one swipe, she closed the notification panel. While most of them were celebrating, there were those like her – crumbling onto the floor as exhaustion finally took in ( _that's what adrenaline can do for you_ ) and they sighed in relief. It was to be expected, though – they had managed to escape what seemed to be a life-or-death situation, and they'd still have to do something like this like 99 more times. Silently she stood up as she made her way to the exhausted figure of Kirito. No matter how much she loathed him, she had to admit that he was the star of this show. In what seemed to be a hopeless situation, he rose to the occasion, leading the assault, and most importantly – inspiring the others, including her, to continue fighting after Diabel's needless sacrifice.

So, loathe him she was, she let out a small sight before smiling as she offered her right hand. Kirito, who noticed her gesture, closed his eyes before let out a small smile of his own as he took her hand.

Maybe – just maybe, the person in front of her wasn't such an idiot, after all.

-TFS-

" _Why did you let Diabel-san die!?"_

" _He must be a beta tester!"_

" _I made it higher than anyone else during the beta test. The reason I knew the boss' skills is because I fought monsters with katana skills on floors far above us. I know a lot more, you know – more than any info brokers."_

 _Uwa… He's an idiot, alright._

The situation now was dire, to say the least. The crowds, who were just now applauding Kirito for his major contribution, had turned on him – calling him to be brought to the so-called justice of theirs because he was a beta tester. Asuna and Agil were trying their best to defuse the situation, to no avail, because a certain black-haired idiot only made the situation became worse for him. With that one lengthy explanation, he managed to establish himself as the Public Enemy No. 2 – second only to their beloved GM. "A cheater that only cares for his own benefits", were what she could summarize from their noisy, annoying ramblings. Oh yeah, by the way, congratulations man, you just made your life harder with that. Seriously…

"That's a lot worse than beta testers!" _oi, old man, you haven't finished yet?_ Yume thought as she rolled her eyes. "You're cheating! A cheater!"

"That's right, a cheater!"

"Beta tester and cheater… Beater!"

 _Aah…_ Yume sighed. _This is why I hate background characters_. Like, they were the weakest among the cast, their only purpose was to make those with talent – the main characters shone, yet when talking they were the loudest, be it praising the main characters for their achievements or trampling them for their faults. Oh, and here one of the finest example of them, the cactus-haired, pathetic guy. Seriously… Give it a break, will you?

"Beater, I like it," Kirito smirked as replied with holier-than-thou tone and gesture. _Oi, you're serious!? Any more than this and you'll…_ Yume didn't have time to finish her thought as he continued. "That's right, I'm beater," he said as he opened up his user interface, before suddenly, a black coat appeared as Kirito wore it, the tail was flipping due to the gust of wind suddenly came into this room ( _as if_ ). "So please don't mistake me for any beta testers," Aah, fuck it, like she was going to care. "Heh," _Also, please stop that I'm-the-coolest-person-in-this-world-nothing-can-stop-me gesture please, gross_.

Without saying another word to the speechless crowd, Kirito left as he made way to the stairs. Yume could see that Asuna chased her, before stopping a few steps behind. They seemed to exchange a few words, before Kirito opened his user interface once again and finally left.

Silence doomed the idiots – of course, their victim suddenly left them, what else to say? Anyway, with a few grunts here and there and some of them still talking about the events that just took place earlier, they made their way to the stairs. As she blended in with the others, Yume noted that some clique had been formed – those who were open about opposing the beater – Kibaou's clique, those who cursed him from behind – the worst kind of people, those who paid no attention – the neutrals, and lastly, a few beta testers who silently thanked Kirito for his so-called sacrifice. She could hardly blame them, if she were in their position she wouldn't even dare to think to stand up like that – it was a foolish act or suicidal, at best.

"Emm, Yume-san, was it?"

Hmm, a random called for her name? Yume turned to find the caller. _Oh, one of the members from my party earlier_ , she noted. "Yes, is there anything I can help you?" Yume said as cutely as possible as she used her best smile when dealing with random people that annoyed her.

The guy who called her seemed to buy it, though. "Emm, Yume-san, I wonder if you were acquainted with that beater?" he said sheepishly. _Wow, straight to the point, aren't you?_ "I saw earlier that your sword is looked just like the one he has, so…"

 _Ah, I see._

Now that their supposed "culprit" was gone, they were trying to pin the blame to other beta testers. Well, that and this guy wanted to make a move on her. Even though they were now pinning the blame on Kirito, it didn't make their opinion on beta tester in general any better. Kirito was only successful in diverting the attention for a while. Soon, they were going to after the testers again, and there was nothing he could do about it. Not like she had any plan on sacrificing herself, though – image was important for her survival, and if she were to get out from this game, she would need all the advantage she could get. For this kind of situation, let's see…

"Of course not," she finally said as her lips pursed into a smile. She silently sighed in relief because Asuna and Agil were far ahead of her, leading the group. "There's no way I want to be acquainted with a beater of all people, isn't it?"

 **Aaand finally done!**

 **I hope this is enough to cover the material from episode two of the anime. To be honest, the hardest part in writing this chapter was when I had to write the scenes that were in the anime. I hope you'll enjoy it, and I apologize if this took longer than it should have – those scenes were killing me. Please stay tune for the next chapter, and don't forget to leave a review!**

 **Palm tree out!**


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